Perfect Paradise

Disclaimer: Bleach is still not mine (and I don't think it will ever be).

Chapter 10: Back In Business

"May I have your attention, ladies and gentlemen?" the brown-haired man on the head of the table tapped his fork to his glass. The buzzing sounds of people were suddenly stopped and all eyes were pointed at the head of the huge table.

"Thank you. Well, as you all know, we all gather here on this lovely afternoon, to thank our colleague over here," the man glanced at me, "That thanks to her, we will be a few digits richer by the end of the month."

The audience laughed, several raised their glasses saying, "Hear, hear."

"So here's to our lovely Kuchiki-san, not you Byakuya," the man holding on Byakuya's shoulder, gaining another laughs on the table, "Thank you."

The rest of the people on the table raised their glasses to my direction, to which I raised my own glass and producing a proper 'Kuchiki' smile.

Thank god the Kuchiki firm had this ancient law on this firm that forbade anyone to drink alcohol during working hour although I knew several people on the firm that constantly refilling the liquor bottles stashed on their drawers, including Shunsui Kyouraku, the partner. My mentor, Jyuushirou Ukitake, told me a secret once that the man worked wonders in court rooms while he was half drunk. But they always maintain the tradition in front of others. So instead of having champagne as any other usual occasion, I sipped my iced tea with a sigh.

Life got a lot better after I got back from Karakura Island. I stopped running, and started jogging again. Going home to an empty apartment wasn't as depressing as it was before. Sure, I still missed the warmth of a body on my bed. But I welcome the silence. At least now I can read more, preparing myself a decent meal every morning and evening, and staying in the tub for as long as I wanted without being interrupted by a banging on the door every 5 minutes.

The office seemed like a lot better place, too. The piles of papers on my desk, the constant ringing of the phones all over the place, squeaking secretaries that constantly kept popping their heads on my door, paralegals who nagged me every minutes for every single paperwork that I already forgotten, clients who always complained about everything, and the firm's partners that didn't have anything else to do than making their associate's life worse than it already has, were somehow… missed.

The biggest difference that I noticed was, the fact that now I actually talked with Renji at work. During and after our affair, we hardly spoke at the office. Well, forget about talking, after we broke up, every time I saw him walking my direction, I was always ended up trying to squeeze myself to whatever opening there was just to avoid him. But now, jokes and insults were casually flying across every time we were in the same room. It felt like I finally found my long lost friend. And, he kept his promise by introducing his fiancée. And she was, just like what he said to me, the most beautiful, gentle and fragile woman I had ever met. I felt like an Amazon warrior just by standing next to her. I think I understand why Renji fell in love with her.

Our arrival from the island wasn't as smooth as expected though. The minute I stepped out the arrival gate at Narita, I found Rangiku standing at the gateway, arms crossed below her oversized breasts while her foot tapping impatiently on the marble floor. Her beautiful blue eyes glared at me before sending murderous look towards Renji who was a few steps behind me.

After tossing my bag into the trunk, she shoo-ed Renji to the first available taxi.

But I guess it was already imprinted on Rangiku's DNA to catch me completely off guard every now and then. The minute we got on the freeway, she took a dangerous left turn and carelessly parked the car on the dirt. Several tires screeching along with loud horns and indecent shouting were answered by Rangiku's middle finger.

"Now I demand an explanation!" she hissed at me.

Her blonde hair was swirled by the wind, making her a perfect living impression of Medusa herself.

After five full minutes of avoiding the subject with peace offerings and a lame distraction ("Look Rangiku, hotties at 3 o'clock!"), I gave up and poured the whole story to her impatient ears.

I never told Rangiku that I dated –well, dated was not a perfect term for it- Renji. All she knew that Renji and I had a history together. After the break-up, I was aware that she realized there was something wrong with me. But a word of question never escaped her lips, she knew me too well. But I guess she freaked out when she knew I was missing. At least I owed her a good explanation.

"So I guess I made the right decision by shoving his ass to the taxi, ne?" she grinned.

"It's not like you're giving him any chance to ask for a ride home," I snorted and waved my hand to her two-seated Benz's dashboard.

"Well, I could always shove both of you into the taxi. But I didn't do that, did I?"

"Okay, okay. Yes, thank you, oh great, noble, holy goddess from saving this lowly creature from having to share a taxi with an imbecile baboon," I flailed my hands and bowed mockingly to her.

"That's more like it," she laughed, "But I'm glad you two reconcile."

Then everything went down hill from that with Rangiku. Well, almost everything.

Rangiku never knew who I was having an affair with but she knew that I did have an affair. She once guessed it was a married man, but I laughed at her face. Now after she was certain I was available again, she always encouraged me to date or at least went out with a man.

And anyone who knew Rangiku would certainly understand that by saying encouraged meant setting up dates and disguised it as a girls-night-out, or things like that.

I had been set up for the third time –I didn't know how I could be that stupid to fall for it three times in a row – when she told me she wanted to introduce me formally to his current boyfriend, Hisagi Shuuhei on a dinner. I was kinda suspicious on her mischievous glitter on her eyes when she told me that, but I ignored it and focused on the fact that my – one of two now – best friend was actually planning to have a serious relationship with a man. Mind you, she never ever introduced any of her boyfriends to me, not even Ichimaru.

So I was eager enough to meet the man formally. But when I walked to the table with Rangiku, instead of having the tattooed-man sitting alone, I found him sitting with another man, and the damned woman was nowhere to be found. After that, I had to spend the rest of the dinner with an always-depressed-looking Kira Izuru after Hisagi had to left due to an important meeting.

Rangiku was only lucky she found a rare Chappy Golden Edition to ease my anger.

Her intrusion over my love life was postponed after I introduced her to Momo on a lunch. Her matchmaking intuition kicked in the minute she laid eyes on the petite woman. Rangiku stopped her daily phone call to ask me out. And exactly one week after that, she suddenly popped in my office with her winning pose – hands on the hips, eyes burned with victory and her nostrils flared – as she announced that she finally matched Momo with the wonder-boy Hitsugaya, and that they were officially dating.

I was happy for Momo, really. That girl needed someone in her life. But her happiness was my doom. Now that Rangiku had completed her new mission, she turned her attention back to her old mission, me. And the torture began, again.

But despite the fact that I had constantly creating excuses to avoid Rangiku's social schedule, I felt like, I finally gotten my old life back together again.

So yeah, a little vacation was definitely the perfect medicine for me.

But, just like any other medicine, it did have side effects. And it was in the form of the non-stop images of a certain orange-haired man popping on my head. At days, I could reject those images and focused myself to other more important issues at hand. But at nights… the memory of him was becoming unbearable. It was more than once I woke up in the middle of the night, sweating profusely, panting his name, and trembled unsatisfied.

I was still amazed how the mere memories of his touches and kisses could make me feel like I was being electrocuted.

Rangiku wasn't helping either.

"Not again, Ran…" I groaned and tried my best not to bang my head to the table.

"Why not? You're free tonight, right?" she pouted.

"Yes, but…"

"No buts! Now get your ass off that chair, we're going shopping," she raised her hands to stop my argument.

"I don't feel like shopping," I groaned and buried my nose back in the book.

"Rukia, it's Saturday!" Rangiku rolled her eyes.

"And that means… what, exactly?"

"Saturdays mean 'get out of your apartment and have fun'!"

"I am having fun," I rolled my eyes.

Sitting on my most comfortable sofa with a good book and a good cup of hot chocolate was my best idea of spending my Saturday nights nowadays.

"Great, all you need now is a few cats," I heard her murmur.

"I can't have pets. It's the apartment's rule."

"Gee, Rukia. That's called sarcasm," Rangiku flopped down beside me, "Please Rukia, for me?"

She drawn circle pattern on the couch, pouting.

"Stop acting like a 2-year-old."

"Oh, please Rukia. Please, please, please, please, pwease…."

I looked at her as she put out her best puppy face and I couldn't resist myself from laughing.

"I never could understand how a resident surgeon like you has time to spend shopping around instead of patrolling the hospital. Okay, okay," I set down the book and walked to my room.

Rangiku followed and sat on the edge of my bed while I got off the loose sweater and sweat pants.

"Say…" she began while stretching her long legs, "what's that guy's name again?"

"What guy?"

I could imagine Rangiku rolled her eyes, but I was too busy trying to get my head through my turtleneck shirt.

"The guy you met on the island. Something… fruity."

My hands froze as his face appeared on the black fabric of the shirt before finally succeeded pulling it down in place. I told her about Ichigo when she helped me unpacking my bag – more like gathering my peace truce for her, actually – after I went home to my apartment. I wasn't going to tell her, but I guess I had no other choice when she saw a certain red mark just below my collar bone.

"Ichigo," I breathed his name, sending another sharp jolt of pain to my heart.

"Yeah, that's it, Ichigo. So what happened to him after you left?"

"I don't know. We didn't exactly exchanging phone numbers and emails," I shrugged and reached for my skirt.

"Don't you think you're being a little bit too cruel?"

I sighed, "You were the one who told me to have fun, which I did, and get over it."

"I never told you to get over it. I simply told you to have fun, not to found some random man then ditched them just like that," her comment irked me so I slammed the skirt to the carpeted floor.

"So what are you suggesting? That I stayed on the island, leave all my life behind just to be a housewife, raising a dozen children while baking cakes?" I yelled out to her. I knew there was no need to yell, but I felt guilty enough without her adding any more comments about it.

For a moment, Rangiku stared at me with shock before chuckling.

"What?" I said, feeling the heat began creeping to my face.

"That is something I wouldn't recommend for you. Knowing you, you would die from lack of work even if you have a mansion to clean up, a dozen children to feed and a mountain of cakes to bake," Rangiku laughed, "What I'm trying to say is, just stay in touch with him. I think it'll do you good."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Rangiku shrugged, "Well, I mean look at you. From when I first met you, you always be this perfect little Kuchiki princess. Highest score in every grades, entered Toudai without even breaking a sweat, graduated in the top 3 of your class and made your first million account for the firm within a year. Just face it, Rukia. You have no life. All you have was your work, dinners with my family and your hideous bunny fetish…"

"Chappy is not hideous. He's unique. And it's not a fetish."

"… and that was it. Even to me, your so-called best friend, you had never even shared your feelings."

"And your point is?" though it was true, she didn't have be so blunt about it.

"My point is, ever since you got back from that island, you've seemed… alive."

I raised my eyebrow to her.

"You went on dates…" she began again.

"More like being set up to."

"…and you're actually at home on Saturday!"

"So what?" I put out my defensive mode, crossing my hands. But after a few moments, I felt chill began creeping on my legs and realized that I wore nothing but my panties. So I picked up my discarded skirt and putting it on.

"Look," she stood up and walked towards me, "First off, you never went on dates for ages. No matter how much I asked you, you never would. Second, you stayed home on Saturday night instead of staying at your office, buried on you files," she crinkled her nose in distaste.

"And you loosen up a lot," she added with a smile, "Like I said, this Ichigo guy brought out your bright side."

"Gee, I wonder if I glow in the dark."

"Okay, Ms. Sarcastic, now confess why you ran away."

"I am not running away, I went home. My place is here, in Tokyo," I fringed, how the hell she figured that out?

"Liar." Rangiku poked my head with her finger.

"Okay, okay. Maybe I did," I admit with a heavy sigh.

"And may I ask why our little super-Rukia ran?"

I stared at her but my mind was somewhere else. That very night when Ichigo's soft voice breathed those words to my ears.

"Well?" Rangiku inquired, bringing her face an inch closer to mine when I dazed off for a second too long.

"Because!" I yelled out to her, "He said something… weird."

I flinched at my own words. Weird? Great way to describe it, Rukia.

Rangiku gasped, "He's not… in to something weird, right?"

"No. He's not in to something weird. He said something weird. He said…"

I eyed the busty woman and crinkled my nose again.

"I love you," I repeated Ichigo's words in the same manner.

I nearly had a heart attack along with temporary deafness when Rangiku suddenly burst out in something one could describe as a mixture of howling and laughing. The one sound I believed only Rangiku able to produce.

"And you ran?!" She finally spat out after her howler subsided.

"You were laughing because…"

"Listen, Rukia," she grabbed my upper hands and shook me violently, "How many men, in your 24 years living on this planet, had said they loved you?"

I tilted my head, rolled my eyes to the ceiling trying to gain access to my memories.

"That would be…" I trailed off.

"Zero, right?" Rangiku finished it for me, I frowned at her. Thanks for the subtle reminder, Rangiku.

"And you ran away from the first person who actually said it?!" she shook her head in disbelief.

"I was…" I started, "… scared."

Rangiku's face softened as she smiled.

"You're still a kid after all," she said.

I snorted but smiled anyway.

"So, what's his score?" Rangiku grinned mischievously.

"What?"

"On a 1-to-10 scale, what's his score? Physically, I mean."

I felt my cheeks heated as I remembered his orange hair, frowned eyebrows, amber eyes, sharp nose, thin lips, broad shoulders, toned muscles, six-pack abdomen…

"4!!!" I blurted out while trying to shook out the images out of my head.

Rangiku raised one eyebrow, "4? You sure?"

"That's what I said," I glared at her, my chest still heaving from the memories invasion.

But Rangiku observed me in disbelief, "And according to you, what's Shuuhei's?"

"6," I answered in hurry while exiting the bedroom.

"6?! Psch, now I know you really need an eye exam."

"What ever. So, are we leaving or not?" I reached my purse from the kitchen table.

"Okay, let me just get my coat first," she scrambled to the living room, but stopped as if she was forgetting something.

"One last question," she turned to me, "On a 1-to-10 scale, how was he, in bed?"

I thought my face was on fire as I stuttered, "It's… I… He… that's… that's none of your business!"

But the evil woman just laugh at me as she said, "I've got my answer."

I shuddered as I remembered it. She kept nagging me about the 'juicy info' on my… 'sexual activities' during my little vacation. And even now, after almost three months after my adventure to the island, Rangiku wasn't letting it go.

"Why the long face, Kuchiki-san?" a voice startled me for a second before I regained my composure.

This was a business lunch, and Kuchiki was still my last name.

"Mr. Ukitake," I smiled at the white haired man, "Nothing, I was just thinking about the new project we were working on. The Shinamoto refinery."

"Ah, still eager to work even after your last success, I see," the man laughed.

I felt bad lying to my mentor, but I couldn't told him that I was thinking about a man, now could I?

"Well, don't push yourself too hard. You're still young," he patted me too hard before leaving me.

So I took the stairs down to my floor. Everyone was ready to get back to their position, back to be the busy little bees. Yeah well, this firm was known as one of the top firm in Japan.

"Miss Kuchiki?" someone called out my name right before I stepped into my office, calling me out of my reverie.

I frowned a little as I saw a man walking to my direction. His maroon hair and dark eyes were familiar to me. His name…

"Mr. Ashido, how can I help you?"

He was Mr. Ukitake's client. He was the owner of 10 5-starred hotels all over the world. I was still a junior when I first handled his contracts under Mr. Ukitake's supervision. He was a tough businessman. Not many lawyers able to fulfill his needs, but Mr. Ukitake was one of the few.

He was pretty popular too. One of the gossip magazines placed him on the Top 10 Most Sought-After Bachelor in Japan last year. Well, not that I had the time to read gossip magazines, it was just because I overheard her on the secretaries gossips during lunch breaks, and I happened to familiar with the name.

"I have something to ask you," the man said, not giving me any chance to guess.

"Well then, let's talk in my office," I held out my hand, inviting him in. From the door, I could see that my secretary wasn't back from her lunch yet. That no-good of a secretary.

"No. It's… not about business," he smiled at me.

"Oh? Okay…" I trailed off.

"I was wondering if you would like to have dinner with me sometimes."

I opened my mouth but then frowned. What did he just said?

"Dinner…" I muttered, not quite sure what was the meaning of the word.

"Well, if that's okay with you, of course," he added with his deep voice.

"Are you… asking me out on a date?"

His smile grew wider, "Yes."

I was taken aback by his straightforwardness. But then I began thinking.

He was a fairly good looking man. Strong jaw, thin lips, dark eyes. He's tall, medium built, and he didn't seem to be skipping his daily workout. And he seemed to be confident about himself. Oh, and don't forget the 5-starred hotels.

Perfect match for a Kuchiki. That was probably what Byakuya would've said.

You never went on a date for years… Rangiku's words drifted back to my memory.

But why was I even hesitated? An attractive man was trying to ask me out on an actual date.

I… at least I had to try, right?

Top 10 Most Sought-After Bachelors in Japan…

"Sure," I smiled at him.

---

"You what?" Rangiku's voice ringed through the receiver.

"Geez, Ran. Can you please not yell at my ear?" I yelled back to the phone.

"I'm so proud of you," she faked a sob and I tried not to roll my eyes, after all, I still had to behave like a Kuchiki at the office.

"Can you please stop that?" I squeezed the phone between my ear and my shoulder while trying to squeeze one-meter-thick files into my bag.

"Okay, okay. I'm already waiting in the lobby for almost half an hour, by the way. In case you forgot about me."

I chuckled. Every Fridays, Rangiku's family (especially her mom) always invited me to their dinner. For years, Friday was always the most expected day of the week. The Matsumoto's curry was something I had always craved for ever since I tasted it when I was 15.

"I bought something for your mom,"

"Rukia, you always bought something for my mom every Friday. She already filled her storage room with it.

"Just shut up okay, I'll be right down."

And after a short elevator ride, Rangiku was already jumping up and down beside me.

"You said you had an 8-hour surgery before, where the hell you get the extra energy?" I frowned at her.

"Ne, ne, Rukia. I saw a really cute guy out front," She squealed.

"And what happened with Shuuhei?" I almost groaned as she put on another weight on my arms even when I had one file bag and a shopping bag on them with a combined weight of approximately a ton.

"Hah, it's not like we're married anyway," she waved her hands but from the glint on her eyes, I could tell he meant much more than she said.

"Yeah, right," I said as I finally freed my arms from Rangiku's death grip, "Now can we leave? I'm hungry."

"It's only 5 o'clock now. Dinner's served at 7."

"I missed your mom's cookies," I grinned as I remembered it and my stomach growled in synch.

"What are you? A five-year-old?"

"You're especially sarcastic today," I snorted.

"8-hours surgery is no small thing you know. I need a little refreshment now. Ah, that's right, come here," she then dragged me behind a pillar.

"Over there," she pointed with her manicured-finger to the entrance doors.

And whatever it was that was on my hands, fell to the floor.

No, not because it was heavy. In fact it was nothing to do with the bags, or my hands that were holding them, for that matter.

It was because of the man Rangiku was pointing at. Because his black and white sneakers. Because his worn-out jeans. Because of how weird he was with jackets. And most of all, how his spiky orange hair stood out amongst the crowd.

A/N: Yeah, I'm a lazy bum. And I'm kinda depressed right now because I had to sell my bike (I have nothing to vent out my anger now). And the result was this chapter. Don't like it, but rather than not updating at all. And I know, I know. You probably ready with your pitchforks and torches out there ready to burn me on stake for another cliffy, but hey, what can I say, I LIKE it. Mwahahahaha.

A/N2: I never thought I'd make it to Chapter 10, and with over 100 reviews. So I would like to take this chance to thanks all the people who have been reviewed up until Chapter 9. You guys are my heroes. Thank you:

ThierryMyst Blood Red Nin AvaLuna happygirl24 Blatantly Anonimous TriGemini star133 Ichiruki-Obsessed I'mthebrideofBYAKUYA Fathom-X GhibliGirl91 IT RIO Insistence Rukia58 Jeni.G AnimeGirl2709 darkheart1992 Neji Inuzuka Tamabonotchi Watchmaker163 DancingBuffy happyfacez Swisz Phantom aoi09 MIZZOU M.O.N.S.T.E..POCKY. The Summer Breeze queenofspades19 DanceOfTheWhiteMoon dbzgtfan2004 Alyn Ecnaret Tituba3 Elizabeth Hawkeye Mustang mysteryinitself mamoru-usa8 Yopoko TremelyModest mipku devilinangel anne HatakeTsughi and all of you who read this fic even if you didn't review. Sorry if I left anyone of you out.

I'm trying hard not to disappoint you all and review my grammar lessons. LOL.